UNDER 8s MINIS RUGBY

2009/10 Season NEWS

Under 8’s at the Twickenham 7’s Festival: 25.04.2010

Game 1 v Harrow – a win to Grasshoppers.

As usual, the Under 8s started slowly. In our first game against Harrow we gave away a try in the first minute and made some basic handling errors in the next few plays. We rallied a bit after that with good tries from Lewis, Tom and Alex but our defence was still somewhat sluggish. The game ended in some confusion as it emerged that Harrow were not correctly registered in our group – and the game was awarded to Grasshoppers.

Game 2 v Ealing – a win to Grasshoppers.

Now warmed-up we played fantastically well in our second game. The tagging was much better and general levels of energy improved. More tries from Lewis, who had a fine festival and Alex meant that we won a competitive game 3-2.

Game 3 v Twickenham – a win to Grasshoppers.

In our final pool game – we played some fantastic rugby against a good team. The tagging was tremendous, gaining us two, 7-tag turnovers. We normally look good going forward – but this was spectacular. Alex was a really star – captaining the team and scoring 3 tries. With supporting tries from Euan and Lewis we won the game 5-4.

As a result of these games we won our pool group and progressed to the semi-finals.

Semi-Final v Rosslyn Park – a win to Rosslyn Park

We continued with our fine standard of play and were really competitive throughout this game. Unfortunately we lost 4-3 after having two tries disallowed (one for a un-tucked shirt that was concealing a tag, and one for a ball grounded just in-front of the line – both really harsh calls)!

So, a slightly disappointing end to a great day of rugby. The entire squad should be very proud of the way they played throughout the tournament and we end the season on a high.

Staines Festival 18.04.10

A number of our original squad were stranded overseas - so a big thanks to all of the other players who changed their plans and joined us.

Our resultant squad had a mixed day - but generally performed better than the score line suggest.

Our traditionally slow start cost us the first game against Hammersmith & Fulham by the odd try in five. Once we woke up, we played well but were caught-out by a couple of breakaway tries from their speedsters. Unfortunately, this was a game we really needed to win if we were to progress to the knockout stage.

In our second game we played to our ability and achieved a comprehensive win over Twickenham. Amongst our tries were spectacular scores from Alfie, Tom and Gabriel. The defence looked good too as we pressed the opposition into a number of mistakes.

Our third game was always going to be challenging against a very big and strong Farnborough A team. We held them for a while but, once behind and with a couple of marginal refereeing calls goings against us - our heads dropped a little. We were still tagging well but could not get back on terms with the opposition. This loss resulted in a third-place finish for us in the group.

07/03/10: Middlesex Tag Festival

I think it's fair to summarize Sunday's performances as much better than the results imply. Here are the details:

Grasshoppers' Gold Team

Match 1 v Saracens A - Lost 6-2

A challenging start against a top team. Saracens scored first but we quickly leveled through a try from Tom. Unfortunately however Saracens rallied and scored rapidly to take a 3-1 lead into half time. They continued to press their advantage  in the second half, exploiting several turn-overs from dropped balls to extend their lead to 6-1 before Euan replied for Grasshoppers to make the final score 6-2. What the score doesn't record however that we had 5 'tries' (yes 5!) disallowed for either grounding the ball on the wrong line (on a very confusing pitch lay-out) or 'diving' over the line (with the old question arising - 'did he dive or was he pushed?'). In fairness the referee on this pitch was very good - and Saracens deserved to win the game - but perhaps by a much smaller margin.

Match 2 v Ruislip B - Lost 3-2

This was a game we should have won. We started really well and turned the ball-over a couple of times to take an early  2-0 lead with tries from Euan and Ben. Ruislip pulled one try back to make the score at 2-1 at half-time. Unfortunately we went to sleep in the second period and made several completely unforced errors. By doing so we allowed Ruislip to score twice in the second half and win the game.

Match 3 v Bank of England B - Won 4-0

This was the game that showed us all how well we can play when we focus. There was so much to praise in our performance in this game against a good side. We ran forwards directly and inventively, passed well, supported each other and forced numerous turnovers in defense. The scorers in the game were Alex, Gabriel, Tane and Ben - but the whole team played their parts and should be extremely proud of this performance.

Match 4 v London Welsh B - Lost 4-2

Unfortunately in this semi-finals we reverted to our earlier style and made too many mistakes. We dropped the ball from the first-pass, we scored 2 'tries' on the wrong line (again!) and turned the ball over. Despite these mistakes, with tries from Ben and Gabriel we stayed close until London Welsh's last minute score.

Grasshoppers' Green Team

Match 1 v Rosslyn Park - Lost 4-1

The Green team started slowly. This sleepy start allowed Rosslyn Park to pull away from us before we started to play Rugby. Despite this, there were signs towards the end of the game, that we were starting to get organised. Jake scored our try in this game.

Match 2 v Ealing - Lost 6-5

A great performance losing to the odd try in 11. The team picked-up from their second half performance in the first game and were really playing as a team. I witnessed some fantastic running with the ball and some amazing tagging (Jake in particular was tagging like a daemon). In attack we saw the start of the Zinadine show - with him scoring 3 tries and sprinting back into defense after each one. Ealing are a very strong team however and managed to stay with us before clinching the final winning score.

 

Match 3 v Teddington - Won 4-2

It's always good to beat Teddington - and it was made better by one of the best all-round performances I've seen from us. Obviously taking confidence from the Ealing game we were energetic and organised. We maintained our solid defense and effective tagging and used that as a base to run-in four tries - two more from Zinadine, a marvelous try from Ben and another from the captain, Jake.

Match 4 v Kilburn - Lost 5-4

The one that got away. This was a really competitive game - with great tries from Zinadine (again!), Kendall, Arun and Gabriel. It was cut and thrust throughout - but I thought we were playing the better rugby and genuinely thought we would win. Unfortunately after a bit of a scramble on our line just before full time the referee awarded a final try to Kilburn.

In summary:

I was really proud of both teams. With fewer unforced errors, and clearer pitch marking - the Golds would probably have won something. As a team with several players for whom it it their first season - the Greens were spectacular. If they had been awake for their first game - their outcome would have been different too. Overall - it was a good day out (no rain!) where we witnessed performances that give me hope for greater success in the forthcoming tournaments.

21/02/10 v Finchley

Grasshoppers Golds: 7 v Finchley A: 6

Finchley won the toss and started an energetic attack against which we defended solidly. The pressure of our tagging forced them to knock to ball forwards and we scored from the turn-over. The pattern continued on their next attack, with great Grasshopper tagging leading to a 7th tag turn-over from which we scored another try. Finchley recovered well and were quicker to the restart. With our defense in disarray, Finchley used quick ball and direct running to run in a try. The half continued with both teams scoring a couple more tries.

The second half was evenly contested with both teams scoring three more tries. At the end of the game Grasshoppers we had defended our early advantage and won a narrow victory against a strong team. Well done.

Grasshoppers Greens: 5 v Finchley B: 7

This game was more evenly matched than the score suggests. Grasshoppers attacked strongly and generally defended well. The difference in the final score resulted from a couple of lapses of concentration on our part and a number of individual tries from one of their very quick players.

Grasshoppers Golds: 5 v Finchley B: 7

After a fantastic victory in their first game, the Golds seem to lose focus. Our performance in this game was littered with silly mistakes; losing the ball forwards, failing to pass when tagged, uncontrolled passing and feet in touch. As we struggled in the game, our defense lost its discipline with players failing to get back in support. In the end, despite not playing to our best standard, we only lost by a couple of tries against a good team.

Grasshoppers Greens  5 v Finchley A: 9

Fitness seemed to play a role in this game. The Finchley team seemed full of running, whereas we seemed to run out of steam! Finchley are a big, strong, fast team who know a lot of the 'tricks' of tag rugby. So, although the result was disappointing, we can reflect on some really positive elements and some good individual performances. Overall, despite the results, I think these were good performances. Most of these games were decided by a small lapse of concentration or an unlucky turnover. At times, both of the Grasshopper teams played really well and these performances put us in good shape for the Middlesex Festival in two weeks.

14/02/10 v Weybridge Vandals

On Sunday 14th February we welcomed the Weybridge Vandals to Grasshoppers. Following a joint training session we divided our players into two teams, with each team playing the Weybridge team.

Grasshoppers Golds: 3  Weybridge Vandals: 3

In the first game we started poorly, partly as a result of a lack of self-belief. For some reason our players seem to lack a bit of confidence at the start of games. However, once we scored and started to believe that we could win, we were the stronger side. Unfortunately, a few good opportunities were missed (including a good chance for Tom to score being spoiled by his trousers falling down!) and the game ended as a 3-3 draw.

Grasshoppers Greens: 4  Weybridge Vandals: 5

In the second game, Weybridge had the advantage of having warmed up both physically and mentally in their first match. We suffered a few lapses in concentration leading to a couple of break-away tries by their outstanding player. We rallied well and looked very good going forward. We lost the game - but only narrowly.

Well done to both sides!

08/11/09 v London Scottish

This week London Scottish visited us. They only brought 10 players so some of our players helped out by playing with the opposition.
The results were:

Grasshoppers  - Near Pitch - Game 1: Lost 9-7

A slow start and degree of disorganisation lead to a narrow loss in this high scoring game.

Grasshoppers  - Far Pitch - Game 1: Won 4-2

Playing against a slightly disorganised team of 6 players from London Scottish, Grasshoppers dominated the first half. We forced a couple of turnovers and scored some good tries. We asked Ben to join the London Scottish team for the second half which made the game much more evenly contested with Ben making some long runs and scoring at great try for them.. Despite this - we held our lead to achieve a 4-2 victory.

Grasshoppers -Near Pitch - Game 2: 7-3

James tells me that the team really 'got it's act together' in the second game - and so it appears with a 7-3 victory.

Grasshoppers -Far Pitch - Game 2: Draw 4-4

The second game on the far pitch was really competitive, with both teams starting to play well. London Scottish put in a great tagging performance - on one occasion forcing a 7th tag turnover. Despite this Grasshoppers held them to a draw - which was a moral victory as Tom (who had volunteered to play for Scottish in this game) scored 3 of their 4 tries!

11/10/09 v. High Wycombe

On Sunday 11th October 2009 we hosted High Wycombe at Grasshoppers. High Wycombe are a well supported, growing club who brought 22 Under 8 players and 9 coaches!
We formed two teams to play the High Wycombe 1st and 2nd teams. The results were as follows:

• Grasshoppers (Shirts): Game 1: Draw 7-7. A really competitive game with good attacking play by both teams.
• Grasshoppers (Bibs): Game 1: Win 9-4. Grasshoppers dominated and the margin would have been wider had High Wycombe not scored a couple of late tries.
• Grasshoppers (Shirts): Game 2: Win 5-3 A good win with the team maintaining its attacking flair but also improving defensive discipline.
• Grasshoppers (Bibs): Game 2: Draw 7-7. Another well matched game. Some of our players stared losing concentration towards the end - probably robbing us of another victory.

Our try scorers were: Zinadine (6), Harry (5), Alex (4), Adam (2), Kendal (2), Tane (2), Tom (2) and Dan (other tries were scored by players borrowed from the opposition).
So, overall, a very good set of performances against decent teams.
Well done everybody.

04/10/09 v. London Welsh

On Sunday 4th October 2009, London Welsh welcomed us and Rosslyn Park to their ground for our first away fixture of the season. We had enough players for one and a half teams - so several Grasshoppers agreed to play in a mixed team. Both the Grasshopper team and the mixed team played three competitive games. The mixed team performed very well, winning at least two of their games. The Grasshopper team drew two of their games and lost the last one.

Regardless of the scores, the overall performance of all of our players was fantastic and bodes well for the season ahead.We have some great ball-carriers amongst both those players who were with us last year and our new recruits. Defensively we started showing great shape with a straight and wide defensive line. Once we eliminate the simple errors and improve the levels of concentration throughout the game we will be difficult to beat.

UNDER 8s LAWS

• Play games with small numbers, no more than seven players and not less than five players. Match squads of 10.
• Start rugby, non contact until February.
• Size 3 rugby ball.
• 10 minutes each way – No longer than 20 minutes.
• Maximum pitch size is 40 metres x 30 metres, plus 2 metres for each in-goal area.
• Pass backwards.
• Free pass restart, opponents 7 metres away on line parallel to goal line.
• No scrum.
• No lineout.
• No kicking.
• Tackle is by two hands on the waist of an opponent.
• If a player fails to pass after being legally touched, the ball passes to the other side.
• Proper tackling can be introduced from February at the coaches discretion, but matches are played as a non-contact game.
• No hand offs, fend offs or barging.
• Maximum of 12 fixtures and not more than 3 festivals.
• Mouth guards and shin pads are mandatory.
• Check studs regularly.
• In this version of the game there is total emphasis on running with the ball, evasion, running in support of the ball carrier, passing and running to touch the ball carrier.
• Under 7s and under 8s may play together, utilising the mini tag format. No under 7 or under 8 child may play with under 9 children or above in any circumstances.

Download the official RFU rules (PDF format / 76KB)